Hillary Clinton Has Some Words For Bernie Sanders In Her New Documentary

On the first day of Trump’s senate impeachment, the politics Gods gave to us a re-hashing of the 2016 election (go figure). This throwback arrived in the form of Hulu’s historic docuseries Hillary: a four part series about the life and 2016 presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton. Set to premiere at Sundance and stream on Hulu on 6 March, the documentary series features exclusive interviews with Hillary Clinton as well as her daughter Chelsea, staff, friends, journalists, and her husband, former President Bill Clinton. It also has exclusive behind-the-scenes moments from her 2016 campaign. While the series mainly focuses on Clinton herself, she also speaks candidly about her feelings towards her former opponent and current presidential hopeful, Sen. Bernie Sanders — and she did not hold back.

Ahead of the premiere at Sundance, Clinton gave an exclusive interview to The Hollywood Reporter detailing her feelings in Sanders during the 2016 democratic primary race. “He was in Congress for years. He had one senator support him. Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done," Clinton says. "He was a career politician. It’s all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it.” When asked if her assessment of the presidential candidate still holds as we enter the 2020 caucuses, she said it does. 

Overall, she expressed concern about the “culture” around Sanders, including his supporters’ attacks on women candidates. “You either don't know what your campaign and supporters are doing, or you're just giving them a wink and you want them to go after Kamala [Harris] or after Elizabeth [Warren],” Clinton told THR, adding, “I think that that's a pattern that people should take into account when they make their decisions.”

Since last week’s news cycle hashed out the he-said she-said between Sanders and Warren, which included a heated debate moment where Sanders was confronted about saying that a woman could never be elected as president, both Sanders and his campaign staff have unequivocally denied all of it. While Warren maintains that he did say this, even going so far as to confront him after the debate and potentially break their long-time non-aggression pact, the discourse has taken on a life of its own in the last week, particularly for Sanders. Now, Clinton says we must “all say loudly” that the sentiment that a woman can’t be president is untrue.

“I think that both the press and the public have to really hold everybody running accountable for what they say and what their campaign says and does," she told The Hollywood Reporter. "That's particularly true with what's going on right now with the Bernie campaign having gone after Elizabeth with a very personal attack on her.” This, Clinton sees as “part of a pattern” for Sanders, subsequent to previous statements on Clinton being “unqualified” to be president.

As the news of Clinton's take on Sanders comes in the height of the 2020 Democratic race, the internet, in true form, had their own words for both Hillary and Bernie.

But, during the debate, Sanders actually defended Clinton's record, reminding everyone that she beat Trump in the 2016 election with the popular vote. Sanders, who recent reports have named as America's most popular Senator, decidedly chose not to engage in Clinton's remarks and focus on Trump's Senate hearing.

“My focus today is on a monumental moment in American history: the impeachment trial of Donald Trump,” Sanders said to press. “Together, we are going to go forward and defeat the most dangerous president in American history.”

Clinton's interview is, of course, meant to rack up excitement about the docuseries being released in the coming months. If nothing else, it’s certainly causing conversation. Ultimately, the docuseries will examine Hillary Clinton’s fame and how she became so simultaneously admired and scrutinized. “Hillary is a deeply personal, reflective and unflinching look at the woman who is arguably the most recognisable female political figure in history,” said Randy Freer, the CEO of Hulu, in a statement.

The documentary trailer also refers to her as the most vilified woman in America. Considering her accomplishments and that, objectively, she is one of the most qualified people in US politics, the documentary will be an interesting look into how that vilification of a woman who made it so far into the 2016 election came to be.